Thursday, May 23, 2013

First Trip to the Emergency Room

We were having such a wonderful day at home! Sebastian and I had decided a walk was a great idea since the rain was supposed to hold off til the afternoon and Paisley was due for one of her half dozen naps of the day, so a walk would be perfect!

We were headed to the neighborhood park but neither baby made it there conscious! It was okay though, it gave me a few extra laps around the neighborhood in complete silence! When the sun was blistering and I had quite finished sweating out my breakfast, I parked the double stroller on the porch and enjoyed fresh watermelon and a recently delivered magazine. 

Sebastian's nap did not last too long (they never do), but he was in a great mood and cheesin' up a storm for mama. 


After lunch, our afternoon took quite a different path then our morning! We were preparing to head out for some errands...we need to get daddy a birthday gift...and in his usual "I can do it all by myself attitude, Sebastian tried to go down the last step by himself...something he had done way more than once. Unfortunately, his little foot stepped a tad too far and he slipped off the step smacking his mouth against the railing base! The screaming ensued and I snatched him up in my free arm and whisked him off to the kitchen. I had to set Paisley down in the swing (she was screaming, he was screaming) and I tried to assess Sebastian. There was soooo much blood....gobs and gobs of it just pouring from his mouth, all he wanted to do was hug me so I was drenched in it as well. All of his teeth were in tact and when I was finally able to get the bleeding to slow down, I could see a significant wound on the inside of his bottom lip. I didn't notice the line on the outside right away, but when I did there was no doubt he would need stitches. 


So, since he refused to stop trying to touch it, I called Jonathan to come pick us up so I could sit in the back seat with him to ensure no extra damage was done. Jonathan made it home in record time and after speaking to the pediatrician, we were headed to the emergency room. Since the wound was on his perfect little face, Dr. Craig thought it best for a plastic surgeon to be available, just in case. 


He got to wear the most adorable little outfit and was quite intrigued by all the gadget and lights and tools! The nurse practitioner came in and assessed him and we all agreed that he would never sit still enough for them to stitch it with him awake, especially right there at his mouth. He suggested Sebastian be sedated (which meant full monitoring by a doctor, respiratory nurse, nurse and the nurse practitioner)...very scary decision to make over a cut. Since that seemed to be our only option, we agreed and preceded to wait two hours before getting to move to a procedure room.




Then it was the dreaded IV time. After telling us he never digs for a vein, our nurse proceeded to dig for several minutes on both his attempts...I'm not sure there is a better way to piss off a mommy then failing at an IV attempt. Finally, they got one in and now Sebastian was hysterical...every noise, every movement, everything sent him into a sobbing fit. Sebastian is extremely hard to soothe, always has been. 

Now, I pose a question to all my mommy friends out there: when the doctor says they plan to sedate your child, what do you take that to mean? I'm an intelligent adult as well as my husband and mother, all were present, and we are not shy about asking questions or ensuring we get the full scoop! When the nurse practitioner said he was going to knock out Sebastian for the procedure using a common sedation, we ALL thought that's what he was going to do, put him to sleep so he wouldn't feel or remember anything! Oh no, that was not what he meant at all. They ended up giving him a light sedation that pretty much caused him to be drowsy but he remained not only awake but aware enough to cry out in pain with every stitch! The local anesthetic was a joke...I have had it before and when done properly, you can't feel a thing...not even tugging. 

I was fuming halfway through the procedure because my baby was crying out in pain while sedated and he should not have felt a damn thing! I didn't know what to do, this was not at all how they said it would go and I can't very well stop them in the middle of the ordeal to have Sebastian wake up all the way and go through even more pain. I really hate doctors...they do everything so much and it becomes so routine that they forget they are working on human beings and in this case a one year old baby! They should have made sure he wouldn't feel anything, they have the tools, use them!


I have not had the best experiences with hospital doctors recently, I am paying thrm my life savings to get poor service at best. Anyway, he was already awake as they did the last interior stitch so Jonathan and I had the sad task of trying to calm him down as the side effects wore off...it took an hour to stop the sobbing. 
I was just ready to be done with it all...we finally got to leave shortly after he stopped crying. I gave him some Tylenol, juice and yogurt before snuggling up in bed with him. Definitely not something I want to do again...he has to have the stitches removed in 6 days and despite the nurse practioners wish to have us come back to he can take them out, we will never be going back there. Dr. Craig can handle 7 stitches. 





Poor baby had a fat lip when he woke up this morning but he is in good spirits!

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